Horror Posse CEO and expert dark trap producer Stevie Durag is one of my current favourites making beats right now, and last month he dropped a full length project titled Evil Realm, which I loved. I was lucky enough to talk to him about that tape, the formation of his collective and his plans for the future.
1. First off, I want to say how much I enjoyed your Evil Realm project, that was a really great selection of eerie horror beats that I think reflected your grimy production style well. Where do you find inspiration for your music?
Thank you i appreciate it a lot evil realm is definitely a special project to me the inspiration is 100% from Legend of zelda Ocarina of time. As a kid even though horror movies scared me i always loved them and as i got older they didnt bother me so any good horror movie has inspired me and definitely people like spaceghostpurrp, 3 6 mafia, and evil haze especially.
2. The older material I’ve heard from you is similarly great, i love the ominous aesthetic and the way you named the tracks. What happened to the projects those songs were from?
Basically there was a service called yungcloud ran by marcy mane and i stopped uploading to soundcloud n used his site but he needed funds from people for the site to keep running but i guess he couldnt get the money n he had to shut it down. And i didnt keep a track of the tracklist of the tapes so once the site shut down i forgot which tracks went to which tapes haha.
3. Who or what inspired you to start making music? Did you have any favourite producers growing up?
A kid i use to know showed me this site in 7th grade called soundation n it had a bunch of pre made shitty loops that i would slap together n they made no sense n were very shitty (to me they sounded good back then) i think i can still find those songs on that site. MF DOOM just inspires me in general from his rapping but i always thought his style of producing completely fit him. Ant from atmosphere, J dilla, and DJ Smokey to name a few.
4. Your production alongside Herme$ on his ‘Fuck The World’ joint is fantastic, it feels like a slightly different direction from the darker material. Any more of that wavier beat style on the way?
Yea i have plenty of other sounding beats i just dont like putting myself in a box but horror/dark beats are my favorite. Most of the time i dont upload other stuff to soundcloud because i dont have much upload time left so i gotta be smart with what i upload. But i do got variety of beats on my traktrain. I wanna clarify i made the melody for that song and it has more than 2 cords i guess hermes didnt like the rest but it dont bother me cuz the song still amazing shoutout hermes thats my bro.
5. Talk to me about Horror Posse. How did it start and who are the currently involved members?
It originally started out as a clothing company but i never made clothes for it n i just wanted to start making my own dark/horror beats n not sound like a purrp rip off. It was just me for a while the first horror posse tape which sounds like a group tape was just myself but it was the first music i put out for horror posse. Yung chainsmoke (producer) came next it was me n him for a while then fried uchihia (rapper) and pies (producer) who i knew for a while asked to join n i said of course and koran (rapper) is the latest to join. All of these people are some talented ass motherfuckers and i think there work/work ethic shows it n i hope one day to make horror posse into a label to get these guys the money they deserve.
6. You seem to be a big fan of Twin Peaks. What other film and television do you enjoy and does they influence your work?
Love twin peaks my brother put me on heavy n i am forever grateful for that shoutout kellen. Seinfeld is another favorite of mine but i wouldnt say it influences me with music but it does with my humor but i have thought about throwin in some samples from the show on a beat im not really watchin anything rn besides random shit on youtube.
7. What producers aside from yourself do you think are killing it in the underground right now?
Yung chainsmoke despite him not believing in himself is one of my favorite producers out rn his beats make me feel like i am about to get murdered in an alley n his style is so unique n different. Evil haze is one of my favorites hes kinda got a certain formula but his beats go hard no matter what to me i actually have a very rare collab with him but its only for sale i dont want anyone stealin it from soundcloud sorry about the rant. Krxxk, chopstar, colton skaggs, pies, bloodline genesis and soulja los are destroying it rn.
8. Who have been your favourite rappers to work alongside? That Lil Disceased feature on your tape is hard, would be cool to hear more of you two.
Trenchboi kese is really the main rapper i send beats to he likes to announce a lotta music before shit drops so we prolly got tapes on tapes i always send him stuff whether i think he ll fw it or i ll sample a band he likes but im obviously not/cant force him to drop music. I ll have to send disceased more tracks cuz the tracks i sent he had to pick which one he liked best n they were for my album so its not like he could drop it on his own time. Trenchboi n fried were suppose to be on Evil Realm but couldnt record there verses in time but its okay cuz when they do i ll reupload the songs they recorded on.
9. Who would your dream collaboration be? Can be anyone at all.
Rap wise i mean ive already worked with purrp n haze n those were on the top of my list but MF DOOM even if i could talk to him it would mean the world to me. Non rap wise theres a guy named TOBACCO (type in tobaxxo on youtube hes really amazing) neon indian and com truise to name a few.
10. When can we next expect music from you? Seems like you really stepped up your work rate recently and I’m excited to hear more.
Ill eventually start working on the 3rd n final House of The Dead n its not gonna come out for a while but im starting the 2nd horror posse tape n this time it will be an actual group tape n not just me.
11. Finally, thank you for this and is there anyone you’d like to shout out?
Shoutout yung chainsmoke, koran, fried, los, spaceghostpurrp, hermes, pies, smoke, colton skaggs, evil haze, southern gawth mobb, chopstar, krxxk and xl cartel.
Listen to Stevie on Soundcloud. Follow him on Twitter at @StevieIsTrash.
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